Good Luck

I love honesty in advertising. So I love the simple design of Oregon's state lottery. It's just a solid hand crossing it's fingers. It's more honest than Illinois' pot of gold that a very very few every get to see. It makes more sense to me than Washington's four leaf clover that just reminds me staring at the ground looking for genetic mutant plants. Crossing your fingers probably isn't a universal symbol for hoping for the the best but it sure works in the US.

A Matter of Maps

While I was in Seattle, I was at the mercy of their public transit system. Trying to find your way around a new city can be extra challenging when you're visiting a city that is on foothills that are just littered with water ways. The transit map designers had a problem of deciding whether to go with the more accurate terrain but messy-looking map, or go with a nice clean map that barely bore any resemblance to the actual city. It reminded me of Vignelli's map problem. So what did they do? Well, instead of possibly making the wrong choice, they just didn't. They used both. Actually they had three all together. I think it worked, I never really got lost. Although part of me hates when things don't match.

Data Visualization

Above is a data visualization created by Sha Hwang to illustrate the increased use of the NYC subway station from 1905 to 2006. While trying to convey information, these graphs are also aesthetically pleasing. Clarity of information is given priority to appearance. Consideration was giving to the color choices, each line has its own distinct color within the same saturation level as the others. The cool gray background acts as a simple backdrop just to give the viewer an environment and recedes so it doesn't complicate the image. It's important to think about how we present this kind of information. It doesn't have to be boring or static, instead I can have more interest in the design than the information I get out of it. I would not be at all as interested about a bar graph created with Excel. Also, these visuals can help the viewer better understand the information they receive.
This one can be found at http://www.diametunim.com/portfolio/ . There are many great examples of data visualization out there. Some are even interactive like http://www.wefeelfine.org/. Others can hold more more specific data like http://www.munterbund.de/visualisierung_textaehnlichkeiten/sketches.php#Examplesoffinalresults or http://well-formed.eigenfactor.org/index.html.

Clearly Milk Carton Packaging

This packaging, while not really practical, is extremely clear. It is creatively constructed from cardboard in the size and shape of a standard 2 liter container of milk.The designer was looking for the most effective way to represent the product with word and image. All caps Helvetica type works beautifully to create a bold statement. This would not look at all as sharp or clean with Times New Roman, and I can't even imagine (let alone want to see) Elegance. Even the photograph with the white backdrop and minimal objects echos the simplicity of this design. This carton replaces the variety of milk carton we usually would expect the hand to be holding. The milk flowing out of the carton also lets us see that this piece is functional. For this piece and other designs by Julien De Repentigny, check out http://visualadvice.com/index.php?/milk-packaging/.

Quite A Novel Layout

The Early Modern period reminded me of books by Mark Z. Danielewski. He has written several novels so far, and both used different approaches to designing the text's layout. I included images from the second book Only Revolutions. Click on them to view larger images. The top image is one of the end pages. It's actually niether front nor back because you read the book from both ends. Each direction gives you a story from another perspective. The end page is just a playful layout of words forming O shapes that repeat through out the book. The words are reversed so that you can only read them in a mirror. I feel that Danielewski did this so that you see the forms as shapes rather than the specific ideas they represent.
The bottom image is from an early page. He choose to have the top left section of the left page (and top right section of the right page) be one person's story. The bottom sections are the other persons story. As you go through your narrators section gets smaller, allowing more room for the alternate perspective. The middle sections on the gutter include dates and historical references for that time in the story. Danielewski alternates between justifying text to the left or right, giving the over text body a wavy, free-flowing quality. He also choose to bold words for emphasis, and play with capitals and italics.
You can also see two circles on each page. they include both page numbers for each perspective. As you flip the pages you notice the two numbers orbit each other. It's pretty cool that Danielewski took this into account. You can watch as the two circles complete one full revolution with the larger circle.
All the O's throughout the book have been printed in color ink (either green or gold depending). I have yet to see any positive effect this has on the story. It just seems like a ridiculous expensive to me.

This is a great example of how to creatively solve the problem of having a multiple perspective book. You can use this layout to enhance the reader's experience. You could also try this approach to get more attention. This kind of book is just really engaging to any potential reader, but if done poorly it could really distract from the plot or be too confusing to navigate.

As soon as I can get my hands on a copy of House of Leaves I will bring it in. It's just the kind of thing you really need to flip through to experience.